Cagayan de Oro City — The widow of a New People’s Army (NPA) national operations commander and a key leader of communist guerrillas in Caraga was killed in a gunbattle on Wednesday afternoon with army troopers in the hinterlands of Butuan City.

Captain Jonel Castillo, operations officer of the Army’s 901st Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, identified the slain rebel leader as Myrna Sularte, also known as Maria Malaya. She was the top leader and secretary of the Communist Terrorist Group’s (CTG) Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee (NEMRC) and a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

The military report stated that Sularte died in an encounter against government forces under the 901st Infantry Brigade in Sitio Imelda, Barangay Pianing, Butuan City, at approximately 1:20 PM on Wednesday.

Castillo said the rebels were spotted by army troops at around 6:10 AM, resulting in a running gunbattle that lasted until 1 PM.

The clash resulted in Maria Malaya’s death and the capture of rebel belongings.

Maria Malaya was the widow of the late Jorge “Ka Oris” Madlos, a prominent figure in the NPA National Operations Command (NOC), who was killed in October 2021 in an encounter with government forces in Impasugong, Bukidnon. The late Ka Oris had a P5 million bounty on his head.

Sularte operated in the Caraga region and Northern Mindanao, where she was linked to multiple atrocities, including the killing of civilians, destruction of government projects, and other terrorist activities in the provinces of Surigao and Agusan.

A native of Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur, she was one of the most wanted NPA leaders in the country.

She faced multiple criminal charges, including rebellion, murder, multiple murder, and frustrated murder, among others.